My Melopedia:Citations

Citations are key in creating any reliable and informative resource, with My Melopedia being no exception. They are used to verify information and claims made on the wiki.

In articles, citations first appear as small numbers in parenthesis, like so: [1], with the corresponding source listed in the References section towards the end of a page.

Why Use Citations?
In short, citations are what help us separate fact from fiction. Anybody has the capacity to lie on the internet, a project such as a public wiki is susceptible to misinformation when not managed carefully, be it an act of vandilism or just a well intentioned but misinformed editor. Citing a source backs up an editor's contributions and allows a reader to easily see where the wiki has gotten its information from, even allowing them to do their own further reading and see the evidence for themselves if they so wish. This also helps avoid and resolve disputes between editors over factual accuracy.

Adding Citations
When adding a citation to an article, an editor should first find the "References" section and place the following within the tags:

Proper use of the name field is important, as it's what allows an editor to use the reference throughout the article and makes the page easier to edit for future editors. To use a citation within the article being edited, enter the following where required, after any punctuation:

Articles Without A "References" Section
When creating a new article, or when adding citations to an existing article without any prior ones, a new "References" section should be added. These are almost universally placed at the bottom of pages, usually only preceeding category tags or navigation templates. The name of the section should always be "References" and always be a level two heading. Following this, the opening and closing reference tags should be added, nothing should be placed in the section outside of these.

Formatting Guidelines
Generally, there is a favoured format for citations to take on My Melopedia. While different amounts and types of information will be applicable to different resources, this is the skeleton all citations on the wiki should be built on.

Name of the author/writer. "Title of the source". Published DAY MONTH YEAR. Retrieved DAY MONTH YEAR.

The retrieval date should be the date that a citation was added to an article. Dates should not include suffixes (e.g. 14th).

Consistency
While wiki-wide consistency would be favourable, it is understood that editors may be more familiar with different structures or naturally create smaller discrepancies like using other date formats, the most important thing to keep in mind is keeping consistency within individual articles. As an article has more and more citations added to it, they can become difficult to read if the format changes throughout.

Citations and Punctuation
When using citations throughout an article, they should always follow any punctuation connected to the relevant text, and should not be followed by punctuation. For example:


 * My Melody has a pink hood.[1] is correct.
 * My Melody has a pink hood[1]. is not correct.
 * My Melody has a pink hood.[1]. is not correct.
 * My Melody has a pink hood,[1] while Kuromi's is black.[2] is correct.

Archiving and Combating Link Rot
A common type of source is information found on the internet, this can be convenient as it allows readers to easily access sources used with a simple click but unfortunately content on the internet can be purged or relocated at any time, the result of this is known as link rot. It is encouraged that when using a web page as a source, that editors also create an archived backup using the Internet Archive or a similar service. This means that in the event of link rot occuring, editors can potentially update an existing reference to use an archived version of a webpage to restore it. When this is done, the following should be added to the citation, directly preceeding the retrieval date:

Archived from the original on [DAY MONTH YEAR].

Unfortunately, this is not a foolproof strategy. However, when using a web source, providing as much information as possible during the initial citation still helps defend from link rot by giving context as to what used to be there.

Bad Sources
While enthusiasm is appreciated when looking for information or places to back up claims, there are certain things to avoid:


 * Other wikis, as this can cause circular reporting. When reading information on another wiki that should be included on a My Melopedia article, it is best to investigate what source that wiki uses itself.
 * Speculative sources, be careful in analysing a potential source, consider the language it uses and where the information is coming from, avoid passing off somebody else's speculation as factual information. For example, this can take the form of somebody unaffiliated with Sanrio talking about their headcanons for a character.
 * Social media, this is much less cut and dry than prior examples as social media posts can contain valuable information or be the best available source for a specific subject but usage of it should be seriously thought about and is considered a last resort. Sanrio's social media channels are the most likely instance where this would be necessary. Be discerning however, as fake profiles that look like they may be run by Sanrio or other relevant companies exist (be it through malice or for entertainment), misinformation is more likely to be encountered here and social media is particularly likely to be a victim link rot.